Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Rachel Botting, James Fletcher, Professor Muzlifah Haniffa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2019, The Author(s). Langerhans cells (LC) are thought to be the only mononuclear phagocyte population in the epidermis where they detect pathogens. Here, we show that CD11c+ dendritic cells (DCs) are also present. These cells are transcriptionally similar to dermal cDC2 but are more efficient antigen-presenting cells. Compared to LCs, epidermal CD11c+ DCs are enriched in anogenital tissues where they preferentially interact with HIV, express the higher levels of HIV entry receptor CCR5, support the higher levels of HIV uptake and replication and are more efficient at transmitting the virus to CD4 T cells. Importantly, these findings are observed using both a lab-adapted and transmitted/founder strain of HIV. We also describe a CD33low cell population, which is transcriptionally similar to LCs but does not appear to function as antigen-presenting cells or acts as HIV target cells. Our findings reveal that epidermal DCs in anogenital tissues potentially play a key role in sexual transmission of HIV.
Author(s): Bertram KM, Botting RA, Baharlou H, Rhodes JW, Rana H, Graham JD, Patrick E, Fletcher J, Plasto TM, Truong NR, Royle C, Doyle CM, Tong O, Nasr N, Barnouti L, Kohout MP, Brooks AJ, Wines MP, Haertsch P, Lim J, Gosselink MP, Ctercteko G, Estes JD, Churchill MJ, Cameron PU, Hunter E, Haniffa MA, Cunningham AL, Harman AN
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Nature Communications
Year: 2019
Volume: 10
Issue: 1
Online publication date: 21/06/2019
Acceptance date: 24/05/2019
Date deposited: 08/07/2019
ISSN (electronic): 2041-1723
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10697-w
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10697-w
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
